Registries in SuperMemo are
sorted sets of objects such as texts, pictures, fonts, templates, categories, tasklists,
stylesheets, etc. Each registry is composed of registry members,
which are named objects used by the collection.

Important! Registries in
SuperMemo, have nothing to do with the Windows registry (SuperMemo have been
using registries before the release of Windows 95)!

An image registry is a set of image files sorted by image
names. The picture presents a typical image registry. There are 4931 images in
the registry (as displayed in the caption). Image names are displayed on the
left. The currently displayed picture of Australia and Oceania is shrunk
proportionally to fit the size of the registry window. Individual elements in
SuperMemo can focus on small portions of this large picture (e.g. Solomon
Islands, Fiji, Guam, etc.). The list of elements using a given picture can be
displayed at the bottom by clicking List. The status bar displays
selected information about the current image. It is the 253rd image in the
alphabetical order. It is uses by 97 elements (items or topics). It is located
on physical position 4148 in the registry. It occupies the file slot 188291 in
the /elements folder. Its path and filename in the element folder is displayed
next. The file is 481,820 bytes large. It was imported or created on June 12,
2006 at 10:26 pm.

By using registries, SuperMemo minimizes the space used by
multimedia files by making sure that each object is stored only once and used by
as many elements as necessary (through the access to the registry via so-called
registry links). For example, if you import an image file into an image component of a
given element (using Import file), you can
later link the same image file with another image component by means of Links : Registry member. By default, the name is the
same as the original image filename, but you can change it at import or later on
(e.g. with Alt+R if the image component is the current component).

image registry stores all images used by the collection
(e.g. BMP, GIF, JPEG,PNG, etc.). Image registry is available with Search
: Images

sound registry stores all sounds used by the collection
(e.g. WAV, MID, MP3, RMI, etc.). Sound registry is available with Search : Sounds

template registry stores all templates
defined in the collection. You cannot link a template to a component. Instead, you apply a template to an element
to change its appearance.
Template registry is available with Search : Templates. You can view the templates on the right
in the template registry window. Read more: Using templates

category registry stores all categories
used by your collection. You can use this registry to delete, rename or
change the properties of categories.
Most of all you will need this registry to change templates associated with a category.
Category registry is available with Search : Categories.
Read more: Using categories

font registry stores fonts that can be used in
text components. Font registry is available with Search : Other registries : Font

tasklist registry stores all tasklists associated with your
collections. You can use this registry to add, delete, rename or edit tasklists. For
example, you can use change the category in which tasks will be stored and the archive
where the tasks will be moved after choosing Dismiss. Tasklist registry
is available with Search : Tasklists. Read more: Tasklist
manager

script registry stores all scripts used in the collection.
Script registry is available with Search : Other registries : Script

OLE registry stores OLE objects
imported from other applications (such a an MS Word file or Excel Chart). OLE registry is
available with Search : Other registries : OLE object

lexicon registry stores words used in the collection and
keeps the record of text registry members that use a given word. Lexicon registry is
available with Search : Find word. If your collection is very
large or includes long texts, you may want to speed SuperMemo up by unchecking Compile
lexicon on the fly in Tools : Options : Data access.
If you do not compile the lexicon in real time, you can build it with File
: Repair collection by checking Rebuild lexicon

phonetic transcription registry is the only twin registry
that is built of two conjunct registries: one containing individual words and the other
containing their respective phonetic transcriptions. Transcription registry, if installed, is
available from Search : Other registries : Pronunciation by word
(individual words) or Search : Other registries :
Pronunciation by sound (transcriptions). You can select a transcription registry
suitable to a given language with Tools : Options : Language : Phonetic
transcription

It is worth noting that the lexicon registry stores all
words used in a collection. The difference between the lexicon registry and the remaining
registries is that individual words are not stored as links to a registry; therefore,
deleting a word from the lexicon registry does not delete it from the collection. Instead,
this word becomes unavailable from Search : Find word. Newer versions of
SuperMemo do not automatically build the lexicon for performance reasons. To
build a lexicon check Rebuild lexicon while running File : Repair
collection. Note that this process takes very long even for smaller
collections.

Text translations are also stored as registries. These are
equivalent to text registries and can be easily replaced by means of copying and renaming
registry files. For example, if you have translated your
collection to German by creating a translation registry called German, you
can copy German.* to text.* in the registry
folder and your original texts in the collection will be replaced with their
translations to German (note that you will need to rebuild the lexicon in order to
generate a lexicon of German words).

Components which use particular registry objects store only
registry references, not objects themselves. For example, a sound component may store a
reference to a sound registry for its sound file, and to text registry for its text. This
approach makes sure that large objects (e.g. video files) can be reused without wasting
disk space. Each time you import an new object with Import file on component menu, you add it to the appropriate registry.
Similarly, each time you type a new text to text, spell-pad or sound components, you add
it to the text registry.

Each time you link a registry
member with Links : Registry member,
the reference count of this particular member is incremented. In other words, SuperMemo
knows how many components in the collection use that particular member. If you delete the
last reference to a particular member, i.e. its reference count drops to zero, the
corresponding registry object will be deleted with or without confirmation. For example,
if the last component using a given image is deleted, you will be asked if you want that
image to be removed from the image registry. However, if the last reference to a given
text is deleted from the collection, its corresponding registry member will be deleted
without confirmation